Kiting in Virgin Gorda

The past couple of days have been play time.  Actually, the past couple of weeks have been play time.  We've throughly enjoyed the good, clean livin' here in the British Virgin Islands, leisurely sailing from anchorage to anchorage as if we have all the time in the world.  We might have been stuck waiting for weather, but we've been doing anything but sitting idle.  To be in a place where we have the luxury to sail just a few hours to yet another breathtaking anchorage without having to really care about weather, wave height and all that jazz has it's perks.  It's effortless cruising in these parts, and we've learned that we like effortless cruising.  We will be back to this neck of the woods, there is no question about that.

As most of you know, Scott took up the sport of kiteboarding about a year ago and he's hooked.  While I can appreciate any sport that has the sense of humor and audacity to name a strategic piece of gear the "donkey dick", I'm not going to lie, I was not entirely thrilled with his almost overnight obsession with what is - no question - an 'extreme sport' (read: one that is dangerous to life and limb).  I mean, new boat, new baby...didn't we have enough going on?  Couldn't he enjoy a leisurely paddle around the anchorage on our iSUP? Maybe a peaceful jaunt to a coral reef in our kayak?  And then there was the issue of storing all that gear: the kites (multiple kites for multiple conditions), the boards (yes, plural, multiple conditions), the harness, helmet, control bars, lines, and pumps (and, yes, the 'donkey dick').  My inner neat freak had a kitten looking at all that stuff piled up.  But Scott's got the adrenaline-junky gene wedged somewhere in his DNA right next to the expert-packer gene and he'd made up his mind and somehow tucked all that stuff away in our boat without sacrificing any "prime" real estate.  After he pinky swore he wouldn't die and stowed all the gear I became (semi) cool with it.

Kiteboarding (or kitesurfing) is definitely not an easy one to learn; it's physically demanding, condition specific and requires a pretty decent amount of coordination and gear.  If you can get past these things, it can actually be a nice complement to cruising.  Typically, we prefer to sail from place to place in winds under twenty knots.  Luckily, winds twenty knots and above happen to be primo for kiteboarding so the two fit nicely in that regard.  The fact that - as one kiteboarding friend told us - "every kiter I know has had some serious injury; blown out knees, broken bones, whiplash...some even died" is a mere afterthought after the rush of the ride.  Or so I am told.  (This friend did not help Scott's case, for the record).

On a positive note, we've met loads of kiteboarders along our travels who seem to be completely in tact (Scott has an inner radar for them, I am certain) and I can honestly say that they are a very cool, very helpful bunch of folks.  We met up with some yesterday and not only did they give Scott some pointers, but helped him launch his kite, and manned the chase vehicle while I chilled on the beach snapping photos and watched Isla nibble on driftwood.  To say Scott was stoked would be an understatement.  Good times had by all.

In other news, it's looking like we have a little weather window to cross over to St. Maarten (aka 'the land that wifi forgot'), so - if all goes as planned - we should be leaving this evening for the fifteen to eighteen hour passage.  Unfortunately you might not hear from us for a couple of days and won't be able to track us because our SPOT tracker up and stopped transmitting during our offshore passage and they have been incredibly unhelpful in getting us up and running again.  Don't be alarmed by the radio silence and keep an eye on our Facebook Page for updates as I will most likely post there first.

Hand Stands on Water: Working Out iSUP Style

It's official:  the stand-up paddle board, or "SUP" for the lazy, is pretty much the best toy ever for a cruising boat.  It's easy to use, easy to deploy, and easy to store.  Simple, simple, simple.  Being that our 42 foot hull, while roomy, doesn't have a whole lot of space to store an eleven by three foot rigid board, we went the inflatable route.  Our Airis iSUP has been simply awesome to have on the boat.  We've not only used it as a vehicle for personal exploration, a place to lay back and relax, and an alternate family vessel (yes, we've had our little family of three cruising around on this bad boy) but now, we also use it to work out.

I discovered by happenstance one day that laying on your stomach and paddling the board with both arms on either side in a windmill motion - much how a surfer paddles out to a break - was not only an incredible workout, but felt distinctly cool in that "Oh hey there! Look at me! I (very temporarily) look like a surfer which makes me feel cool because surfers are AWESOME" sort of way.  So the other day when Isla went down for her morning nap, Scott decided to wake up his deltoids and put my new exercise to the test.  I jumped in the water to swim and, twenty minutes later, swam over to him where, next thing I knew, we were giggling like children doing handstands on the water.  And wiping out a lot.

I don't know what possessed him to first do it - but as soon as Scott inverted - the gauntlet had been thrown.  For the next forty-five minutes, most likely to the amusement of everyone else in the anchorage, we practiced inversions coupled with iSUP yoga and had a blast.  For the record, standing on one leg atop an inflatable paddle board is very, very hard.  In fact, it might be impossible. So we kept the yoga to the floor exercises after some comical unsuccessful attempts at standing bow pose. It was fun trying though!

Prepping for an inversion

Almost there! 

Bingo!

A little down dog

The "super cool surfer paddle".  Use both arms at once, or alternate.  Also called "the delt burner"

Sit ups are also great on the SUP

Has the planking craze ended?  Did we miss that boat?

And now, for the blooper reel:

He's not hanging ten, but about to wipe out.  Though he does sort of look "surfer cool" here...

It takes a while to get it right.

Another bonus of doing inversions on the water, this little maneuver is less painful.  

Right before I flopped over with incredible grace (not).

Hiking in the Bahamas

The islands of the Bahamas, for the most part, are pretty low lying.  Brush is thick, trees are squat, and the hills aren't much.  Despite the lack of contour, some of the larger islands offer nice trails with beautiful panoramas and interesting things to see.  One of our "goals" of cruising this time is to explore the islands inland a little more and, so far, we've been doing a pretty good job of getting off the boat and exploring.  We strap Isla into the baby carrier , pack a backpack full of water, cameras and snacks and we're good to go for a few hours. 

Hikes of Lee Stocking

A nest at eye-level

This spider was huge. 3 inches long with legs.  Scott walked into the web of one of these and it almost stopped him.

A naturalist in the making?

Our trail, here we're at a "high point"

These are seeds off of a tree. Natures decor!

Since she was born Isla has always loved being outside.

Interesting mollusks are attached to the rocks and trees.  These were about an inch long.

Look closely down the center and you'll see the old, abandoned airstrip.  Very rustic down here.

Another perk of hiking is that they often lead to private beaches.

We Got Wheels!

The Dahon Mariner - our nobel steed.

Before we left we had talked about getting fold-up bikes for the boat, but decided to wait and see if we really felt we needed them (a good habit to get into, especially when buying 'toys' for a boat).  In our 'land lives' Scott and I had five bikes between us, so it probably comes as no surprise that Scott sprung for this little beauty he found on Craigslist.

Initially I was apprehensive because of cost and the space issue we are always dealing with - but at $150 this bike was too good to pass up.  I've come around.  I dig it.  Boat toys are fun.

This bike will open a world of possibilities to us.   Biking ten miles is a lot different than walking ten miles.  It will make "popping" over to the hardware store a possibility and slightly less of a chore.

We figure we'll start with one and see how it goes.  However, Scott just zipped off to the Surf Shop three miles away and I'm already jealous so I foresee another in the not too distant future.

Love,
Brittany & Scott

"Fit" for Sailing...

A lot of people ask us if Scott and I are “afraid” when we tell them what we are going to do. The answer is NO. “Free is the heart that lives not in fear” is a favorite quote of mine (along with nearly every line of the movie Captain Ron, so baring that in mind…). However, there are a few things that I am, for lack of a better word, nervous about.

Namely – exercise. I love the stuff. Scott loves the stuff. We are both triathletes who have to make a concerted effort to sit still. We get in “funks” if we haven’t worked out enough. I work out every day at lunch, and then – two to three days a week - head to the Bikram yoga studio downstairs after work. I am the daughter of an aerobics instructor. We are HAPPY when we exercise. We LOVE to exercise and frankly, I am trying to wrap my head around how to do this in or on a 35 foot sail boat. Sure, sure…there’s swimming. But those who know me well also know I have a shark phobia that runs wide and deep. I watch “Shark Week” religiously (it is, in fact, THIS week) and I also read a lot of sailing blogs/books and you know what? I don’t care what you say - the ocean is teeming with these toothy predators. They are everywhere. So I don’t foresee swimming long distances in open water all that much. Then there is “boat yoga”. Scott and I got excited while watching an episode of Lats and Ats TV and a woman demonstrated this “boat yoga”. Do you know the first and only pose she demonstrated? “Leg on Bow Rail”. I kid you not. She lifted her leg, placed it on the bow rail (the metal railing in the front of the boat) and called that a yoga pose. While it might be a nice stretch, it most certainly is not going to keep us fit.

Ugh. So what to do? I know that the cruising lifestyle is one that keeps you slim and trim naturally – constantly lifting and pulling things, eating small (mostly) healthy meals, and living on a moving object therefore constantly engaging your core – but what about cardio? What about running? Sigh. Guess we’ll just have to pack our running shoes and run ashore…or maybe we can get the DVD version of "Sweatin' to the Oldies" and do that on deck? Hmmm....

Yours in health,

Brittany and Scott